Bringing in the New Year With Tomato Marinade

Resolutions….every year after Christmas, many people stand around the water cooler revealing their New Year’s resolution. Even the morning shows parade out so-called experts on resolutions.

Resolutions always seem to be about starting the latest dieting trend, joining a health club, buying fashionable exercising clothing. It’s become fashionable to wear these spandexy clothes all day while grocery shopping, picking up the kids from school, etc. as if, to flaunt “I went to spin class today.” These outfits have become even more popular than women running around in their cute little tennis outfits.

When I see these perky, skinny people, I always wonder, do they really exercise or are they just naturally beautiful and wear the clothes to make a fashion statement? I mean their hair is always neatly pulled back in a ponytail. Surely, one doesn’t sweat on the spinning machine, then when finished run a comb through their hair. In reality, I’m jealous, they don’t make spandex for women my age. Notice I used the term “women” not “misses”. Department stores for unknown, politically correct reasons have distinguished females over a certain age and over a certain weight as “women”.

All that aside, I have to admit, I’ve made plenty of resolutions in my youth. These days, I just take it one day at a time.

Now that New Year’s and football championships are nearing, that means the parties continue. Maybe you’re still full from all the food during the Christmas holidays. It’s time to enjoy food but on a lighter level.

I call this recipe Tomato Marinade.

I use fresh, plum tomatoes and, no, they’re not in season in the United States and are obviously shipped in from some South American Country Whole Foods contracts with. I made up for it though by using local Vidalia Onions, I hung in the nylons in the cooler part of the house and Poblano Peppers, I froze a couple of months ago.

Here’s what I did…

I used five plum tomatoes, removing seeds and finely dicing.

To the diced tomatoes, I seasoned with pinches of oregano, basil, salt and pepper.
I stirred in, a tablespoon of red wine and balsamic vinegar each, then drizzled about two tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
I covered the bowl of tomatoes and allowed to marinade in the fridge.

For the onions and pepper…
One Sweet Onion, thinly sliced, then quartered slices
Half of Poblano, seeded and finely diced
In a skillet or sauce pan, I added two Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil then added the onions and Poblano. I simmered over low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. I added one heaping teaspoon of light brown sugar then a couple of tablespoons of red wine. I continued to let simmer for another 10 minutes.

I removed the onion and pepper from the stove and allowed to cool, then I added to the tomato marinade.

One can make up a Bruschetta and top with the tomato marinade or just use a cracker, as shown here, lacking a lot of flavor distracting from the marinade of tomatoes.